Lehigh Valley Phantoms' 2016-17 regular season schedule unveiled

ALLENTOWN — We already knew the dates of six of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms' 38 home games for the 2016-17 season, including their home opener Saturday, Oct. 15, but Monday afternoon their entire AHL regular season schedule was released.

Their home opener will also serve as the season opener against the newly sold, relocated and renamed Springfield Thunderbirds (formerly the Portland Pirates) at 7:05 p.m. The contest kicks off the Phantoms' 76-game schedule, which will be their third season in Allentown's PPL Center and 21st overall.

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Lehigh Valley's regular season concludes Saturday, April 15 at 7:05 p.m. on the road against the Binghamton Senators while its final home game takes place a day prior when they host the Providence Bruins on Friday, April 14 at 7:05 p.m.

The Phantoms' preseason schedule will be released at a later date, although their NHL affiliate Philadelphia Flyers will call the PPL Center home for one night when they face the New Jersey Devils in preseason action Sept. 28 at 7:05 p.m.

Lehigh Valley's Atlantic Division will look a bit different with the Springfield Falcons becoming the Tucson Roadrunners and joining the Western Conference and the Pirates relocating to Springfield. The division shrinks to seven teams but the Phantoms' rivalries with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Hershey Bears will remain intact.

They play both the Penguins and Bears 12 times each, evenly split between home and away venues. Despite playing Wilkes-Barre/Scranton so often, those games are backloaded on the schedule with Nov. 16 being the only game between the two squads before the calendar flips to 2017. Eight of their 12 matchups come during the final seven weeks of the season.

As far as the other teams in the division, the Phantoms play the Bridgeport Sound Tigers and Hartford Wolf Pack eight times each (four home, four road) and the Providence Bruins and Thunderbirds six times each (three home, three road).

Binghamton is the only team outside the division the Phantoms play more than four times as they take on the Senators six times. Rounding out the schedule are their other North Division foes the Utica Comets (four games), St. John's IceCaps (four), Rochester Americans (four), Albany Devils (two), Toronto Marlies (two) and Syracuse Crunch (two).

After beginning the season with three straight home games the Phantoms embark on a season-long five-game road trip the first time they leave Allentown. They'll hit Hartford Oct. 28 then travel to Bridgeport, Hershey, back to Hartford and then to Providence before returning to the friendly confines of the PPL Center on Nov. 5 when they host Springfield.

Six games is the length of Lehigh Valley's longest homestand, which comes over the Christmas holiday. From Dec. 9 when the Phantoms host Rochester until they welcome Hershey on Dec. 26, they won't play outside Allentown.

Just like last year, a majority of Lehigh Valley's games take place on a Wednesday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday but there are three Tuesday games, all coming on the road, and two games on a Monday. The first Monday game is a 7:05 p.m. tilt scheduled for the day after Christmas at home. The other is Jan. 16 in Springfield.

Saturday is the most popular day on the schedule with 25 games set (15 at home) for the Phantoms then with Friday close behind at 24 dates (14 home). There are 13 Wednesday games (six home) and nine Sunday matinees (two home).

The Phantoms play eight sets of three-in-threes, which is three games played over three consecutive days. Two of those are played solely on the road with six being a mix of road and home games. None occur on back-to-back weekends.